delicious demise
by Constance Greene
Summary: Here you are, but there he stands. My love, you're drifting. — HikaruKaoru


hello.

Nnngh. Just a little thing I wrote over vacation. Therefore, I don't think it's that good.

Ouran High School is not mine.

delicious demise.

"Hikaru?"

The airy, somewhat timid voice nearly penetrated his dreamless slumber, yet he slept on and disregarded the threat to his peace.

"Hikaru?"

It continued; the one being called barely stirred and let out a soft snore in response.

"_Hikaru_!"

Persistent little –

The second twin rolled over slightly, turning towards the voice.

"What do you want, Kaoru?" He grunted, hazel eyes sharp and accusing. But his brother didn't flinch.

"Can I sleep with you tonight?"

Hikaru took the time to scrutinize his brother more carefully. He was a thin, glowing gossamer in the huge room clad in marble, wearing white pajamas while Hikaru was shirtless. He was clutching something in his arms, holding it tightly to his chest, but Hikaru couldn't make out the indistinguishable shape.

"Fine. Just don't hog the sheets." He rolled back over.

Kaoru knew that _Hikaru _was the one who always hogged the sheets, but he closed his lips and said nothing. He was simply grateful for the company – their large mansion was spooky when all the candles were unlit and darkness reigned.

And, he got lonely.

The brother faithfully complied and climbed into bed beside his identical twin, tugging the sheets nearly up to his neck. He placed the object he had been holding in between their two bodies, still clinging to it surely with one arm.

"Get your head off my back, Kaoru," Hikaru grumbled, shifting further to the side.

"It's not me," Kaoru said. "It's this."

He held it up for his brother to see. Hikaru bent his neck and squinted at the slightly matted object. In the dim light, it almost looked like . . .

"The Lord's teddy?"

"No!" Kaoru sniffed. "It's a panda. It's _Mr. Sniggles._"

Hikaru paused and looked at the thing more closely. He clarified that it was, indeed, Mr. Sniggles.

Suppressing a bubbling snort of irony that clawed its way up his throat, he said,

". . I remember.

"We used to bring Mr. Sniggles everywhere, right?"

"One time I accidentally dropped it in our guest's soup. Auntie Cornelia was angry at us forever."

"And when we put it in our maid's bed . . . you know how she hates bug-eyed bears . . ."

They looked at each other for a moment, and then the two both broke up into laughter.

"Hush, you'll wake up the nightwatchers."

"They never hear anything."

The 'nightwatchers' were the twin maids that served at their house – it was a nickname they had given them when they were children. They roamed the hallways like phantoms draped in velvet cobwebs of black, holding stainless silver candelabrum in their ghostly pale hands.

Kaoru cuddled the panda plush closer. "Mr. Sniggles has secrets, too."

"Like what?"

"_Secrets_, Hikaru. Not for you to know." And he turned over in the bed quickly with a little smile playing at his lips. Hikaru grappled the boy's torso, but it, being clothed, slipped out of his grasp.

"Tell me, Kaoru!" He insisted.

"I'm awfully tired, brother."

"You're a git, Kaoru."

There was a hurt moment of silence. Then, a quiet, pained voice whispered,

"Hikaru."

"Sorry" was the short apology. He could imagine his stubborn twin lying on his back, arms crossed over his chest and glaring up at the ceiling. He didn't like not knowing what was going on. Sometimes he reminded him of the Lord – always poking his nose into everything and growing sore when he didn't get his way. He silently wished he was more sensitive and in touch with his emotions like his twin – but he was just fooling himself. He could be just as immature, even more so at certain times.

Kaoru remembered looking for a ring. He remembered searching through his mother's jewellry box she had left behind – antique, ornate, and stunning – and finding a sparkling golden band. Diamonds, nothing more than pallid stardust, were encrusted into the molten gold, stealing away the light and beauty of the world by entrapping it all within the white prison. But he hadn't taken it – that would be _stealing_. Instead, he had snatched up the panda teddy bear that someone or other had given him and carried it to Hikaru.

"What's up, Kao?"

"Did you know that Mommy and Daddy never did this?"

"Did what?"

"Get married. So they're not together anymore."

"So, Kaoru?"

He held the panda bear straight out before him, the black button eyes glinting and causing Hikaru to blink his sea-amber eyes.

"Let's get married, Hika. I want to stay with you forever." _I don't want to lose you. Oh, no. _

Hikaru was at first rendered with stunned silence, but then a smirk slowly and easily began to slip onto the corner of his mouth. "Aww, Kaoru, I'll never leave you."

_Can I trust that answer, brother?_

_Can I really?_

_You're growing more distant now. Separate, apart. We aren't seen together as often. And they're always asking, 'What happened to HikaruKaoru?' As though we were once one and are now splitting into two._

He had proposed; Hikaru had accepted with good fun. Instead of wedding rings, the bear was the symbol of their eternal life together. But they had been children. Hikaru hadn't taken it seriously, because he had obviously forgotten. Besides, back then, they were perfectly content with forever being together in their selfish world.

He could now hear the soft, gentle breathing of his brother beside him. Asleep. The only time he ever looked peaceful, these days. He wouldn't listen to him – he wouldn't open up. He was closing himself off to Kaoru; the realization was bittersweet on his tongue.

"Keep your promise, Hikaru. Never leave me, because I won't leave you. God help me, but I'll never leave you." He whispered this lost vow into the cup of his sleeping twin's ear, settling back against his warm side. But the panda between them had turned suddenly cold; as inanimate as a toy. And it covered his heart.


End file.
